Long Beach police, fire departments adapt to new realities - Long Beach Press-Telegram
LONG BEACH - Prior to 9-11, the first agencies that came to one's mind when one thought of a terrorist attack were the FBI and CIA.
The terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., however, made it abundantly clear to all of America that terrorism is as much a local threat and crime as an international one.
"Some people initially reacted by saying, `What's the difference, what's the motivation behind the act?' when trying to come up with the best plans to combat terrorism at home," Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell said.
"But violence is violence," McDonnell said. "While ultimately all crime is local, so are all cases of terrorism. They have to happen somewhere."
That day thrust first responders into the spotlight, and immediately changed the scope of the job for local firefighters and police officers.
There was new training in fields not previously handled by local agencies, including intelligence gathering. New guidelines and federal mandates were issued and government clearances had to be granted.
Counterterrorism efforts were ramped up at police departments across the country.
Firefighters were ordered to carry kits in their apparatus equipped with injections to reverse the effects of nerve agents.
Devices used to measure radiation exposure and other potentially dangers elements were installed in police and fire department vehicles.
Joint training exercises bringing local,
county, state and federal agencies together became commonplace.A shift in operational culture
The attacks also triggered a major shift in the way many agencies, particularly on the East Coast but also here in Los Angeles County, shared information and communicated.
"The best thing that came out of all of this was the focus on the lack of availability to talk to one another," Long Beach Fire Chief Alan Patalano said.
Southern California is the home of the incident command system and mutual aid systems, both of which originated long before the terrorist attacks, the fire chief noted.
Though California fire agencies were very good about talking to one another, sharing information with other types of agencies remained a challenge, Patalano said.
The attacks made it clear that far more complex problems materialized on 9-11 than previously planned for, he said.
The need for a common language to allow all agencies to communicate with one another, and for standardized equipment to smooth the transition of outside fire agencies coming into a new area, was obvious, Patalano said.
Long-standing cooperation
Part of the reason Southern California firefighters were ahead of the curve on communication came down to geography. Fire agencies here have years of experience successfully dealing with widespread disasters, such as wildfires and earthquakes, by working together, he explained.
Today, there are more than 600 engines available in the region, more than many states have in total, that are able to respond to any state or federal emergency without interrupting services to their communities.
"Everyone wants our mutual aid system," Patalano said, noting states and cities that have yet to create such a system.
Firefighters learned law enforcement can't watch everyone and everything and that their time in the public meant they needed to keep an eye out for suspicious behavior and potential threats, the fire chief said.
For police officers, keeping a constant watch for potential dangers was hardly a new concept. The change came in the sheer volume of new, or previously unconsidered, threats, the chief said.
"Pre-9-11, every tidbit, every fragment of information was carefully guarded," McDonnell said. "Today, with the technology available and our ability to collect information both at home and abroad, it's not tidbits of information. It's like drinking out of a fire hose."
Now police have to figure out how to capture and analyze that stream of information, and they have to do it "with limited resources, that's a very big challenge."
"Today in Long Beach we are in a much better position than we were 10 years ago, but I still think there's much more work to be done," the chief said.
City has many targets
The city, he noted, is ripe with potential targets, including the port, the airport, and industries including aerospace and refineries.
The city's riches, and its diversity, showed how critical communication would be, the police chief said.
Though that didn't make it any easier to achieve.
"Police agencies, the fire service and other public agencies, like the health service, were pretty much silos prior to (9-11)," McDonnell said. "It really was driven by pride, the feeling that that is your area of responsibility and you didn't need anybody helping you."
The attacks immediately drove home the point that old rivalries and ego had no business in this new fight, McDonnell said.
"I think 9-11 was a humbling incident for all of us," the police chief added. "It made you realize that none of us could do this alone. In order for all of us to be successful we have to work together, we have to share the intelligence, because if something does happen, no agency wants to be the one that had that information that could have made the difference, but didn't share it."
Tactics must evolve
Changing some of their field's long-standing culture was difficult and continues to be a struggle, for the Fire Department as well, Patalano said.
Firefighters don't hesitate before running into a burning building and didn't hesitate on Sept. 11 when they ran into the World Trade Center in New York.
That may not be the best course of action with the new threats, including the use of nerve agents and other deadly toxins, Patalano said.
"Firefighters are still going to run into that burning building, but in certain situations they will need to stop and assess the situation," Patalano said. "In the current training we call it a tactical pause."
McDonnell said another important hurdle is training the public to remain vigilant and not let the passage of time lead to complacency.
"My request to the public is when you see something out of place, or it gives you a bad gut feeling, pay attention and to let your police department know what's going on," McDonnell said.
McDonnell cited Israel as an example, where if a briefcase is left unattended, it's immediately reported.
Some might say people here are more likely to complain if they have to change their routine when police and fire departments are called out to investigate a suspicious package.
If the public is on board with law enforcement, and other first-responders, the possibility of a real threat slipping through the cracks is drastically reduced, he said.
"At the Long Beach Police Department we are continually working with the community and our partners to strike that sensitive balance between security and freedom," McDonnell said. "By all of us working together, Long Beach can be both prosperous and safe."
tracy.manzer@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1261
11 Sep, 2011--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNE0ICCfHVjb-ze_qm7DtPkppfWumA&url=http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_18870641
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